Persecution & the Idol of Approval

Owning Our Idols: Approval

What suffering is NOT persecution & how do we avoid that?
What IS persecution?
Why do we experience persecution?
How do we RESPOND TO PERSECUTION?
What IDOL prevents us from responding well to persecution?
We are not normally happy to be excluded, to be persecuted.
Big Idea: In Jesus’ culture and in ours, the risk of persecution forces Jesus’ followers to choose who is their real god.

What suffering is NOT persecution & how do we avoid that?
NOT all suffering qualifies as persecution…
I. Suffering for our own sin is not persecution.
Haddon Robinson He didn’t say, ‘blessed are you if you are persecuted.’

A. We can suffer because we are ODD.
Robinson:They may think that they bear the offense of the Cross, but they are just plain offensive.

B. We can suffer because we are self-righteous, quick to point out the foibles of others.
C. We can suffer because of our HYPOCRISY.
Jesus spoke about people being persecuted because of righteousness, not self-righteousness. If hypocritical, we may be getting what they deserve. Punishment ≠ persecution

PWPT 1 Peter 2:20 For what credit is there if, when you sin and are harshly treated, you endure it with patience? But if when you do what is right and suffer for it you patiently endure it, this finds favor with God.

What IS persecution?
Dictionary definition: subject (someone) to hostility and ill-treatment, esp. because of their race or political or religious beliefs
PWPT Sinclair Ferguson
Christians are persecuted for the sake of righteousness because of their loyalty to Christ. Real loyalty to Him creates friction in the hearts of those who pay Him only lip service. Loyalty arouses their consciences, and leaves them with only two alternatives: follow Christ, or silence Him. Often their only way of silencing Christ is by silencing His servants. Persecution, in subtle or less subtle forms, is the result.

II. True Persecution means Suffering for Christ’s sake.
Matt. 5:11 "Blessed are you when people insult you and persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of Me.

Acts 5:41 The apostles rejoiced ‘because they had been counted worthy of suffering disgrace for the Name.
I Peter 1:6 Peter saw trials as a means of grace to prove the genuineness of faith and to increase its purity.
1. Persecution was common in the past…
PIPER For almost three hundred years Christianity grew in soil that was wet with the blood of the martyrs. Until the Emperor Trajan (about AD 98), persecution was permitted but not legal. From Trajan to Decius (about AD 250) persecution was legal but mainly local. From Decius, who hated the Christians and feared their impact on his reforms, until the first edict of toleration in 311, the persecution was not only legal but widespread and general.
So, for 300 years, to be a Christian was an act of immense risk to your life and possessions and family. It was a test of what you loved more. And at the extremity of that test was martyrdom.
2. Persecution is occurring in the present
David Barrett In 1980…there were 270,000 christians who were killed, more or less directly, because of their faith.

3. Persecution is common to ALL who walk with Christ.
PWPT 2Tim 3:12 “And indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted.”

Why do we experience persecution?
III. We experience persecution because…
A. We represent Christ,
1. God’s purposes are instinctively resisted.
2. Christ promised we’d be persecuted BECAUSE of Him.
““A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. “It is enough for the disciple that he become as his teacher, and the slave as his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul, how much more the members of his household!”
Matthew 10:24–25
B. We experience Persecution purposefully.
1. Jesus knew this was coming upon us.
PWPT Matt. 24:9 "Then they will hand you over to be tortured and will put you to death, and you will be hated by all nations because of my name. NRSV
2. Jesus intends that some endure persecution to the point of death.
PWPT Rev. 6:11 And there was given to each of them a white robe; and they were told that they should rest for a little while longer, until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed even as they had been, would be completed also.

John PIPER In other words, there is a number of martyrs appointed by the Lord. That number must be fulfilled before the consummation comes. “Rest, says the Lord, until the number is completed who are to die as you have died.”
Martyrdom is not something accidental. It is not taking God off guard. It is not unexpected. And it is emphatically not a strategic defeat for the cause of Christ. It may look like defeat. But it is part of a plan in heaven that no human strategist would ever conceive or could ever design. And it will triumph for all those who endure to the end by faith….
…you can be sure that , somewhere in the world, …Christians are suffering for their faith. We do well to prepare to join them.
…being a Christian may cost more in the years to come. And finishing the Great Commission will probably cost some of us our lives—as it already has, and which it always will.

3. We are assured that we can suffer persecution WITH FAITH.
1 Peter 4:19 Therefore, those also who suffer according to the will of God shall entrust their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right

How do we RESPOND TO PERSECUTION?
IV. We choose to respond to persecution…
A. We may suffer redemptively.
1. Our suffering deepens our dependence on Christ.
2. Our suffering deepens our character.
3. Our suffering opens the gates for faith in others.
The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. Tertullian C. 197 A.D.

B. We may suffer begrudgingly.
1. We may resent persecution: in which case, our character does NOT deepen. If God had his way fully in my life, I might lose my friends, I might not fit in with them.

2. We may AVOID persecution altogether by hiding our faith.
Issue—if I’m not being rejected, I’m not identifying clearly enough with Christ.

C. We may suffer persecution, looking to our reward.
C.S. Lewis
A man who marries a woman for her money is ‘rewarded’ by her money, but he is rightly judged mercenary because the reward is not naturally linked with love. On the other hand, marriage is the proper reward of an honest and true lover; and he is not mercenary for desiring it because love and marriage are naturally linked. ‘The proper rewards are not simply tacked on to the activity for which they are given, but are the activity itself in consummation ‘.
Matt 5:12 "Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

Big Idea: the risk of persecution forces Jesus’ followers to choose who is their real god.
CONCLUSION
1. God knows that we will face persecution: no persecution means we either
a. Have NOT identified clearly with Christ in life and word.
b. Have NOT participated publicly in His kingdom program.
c. Have no unbelieving colleagues or friends.

2. Our FEAR of persecution obscures the Idol of Approval.
We long to have the agreement and approval of our valued friends, rather than their disdain and certainly their persecution.
When God’s approval becomes more precious to us than the approval of others– by the gospel – the idol is dethroned.

We gain the approval of God via the Cross.
We live in the approval of God…
By enjoying Christ’s approval in the moment.
By celebrating Christ’s approval in the moment.

Luke 6:22–28 NASB
““Blessed are you when men hate you, and ostracize you, and cast insults at you, and spurn your name as evil, for the sake of the Son of Man. “Be glad in that day, and leap for joy, for behold, your reward is great in heaven; for in the same way their fathers used to treat the prophets.
“Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for in the same way their fathers used to treat the false prophets.
“But I say to you who hear, love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.”



APPLICATION: take out the slip of paper in your program.
A. Rejoice!
Matt. 5:12 “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great; for ain the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

B. Be salt & light Matt 5:13-14
PWPT “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again? It is good for nothing anymore, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.”

If you can’t remember ANYONE who has ridiculed you for your faith, REPENT…
1. For not identifying more clearly with Christ.
2. For not having closer contact with unbelievers!

C. Identify the ONE KEY person whose rejection you most fear; someone who has already persecuted you because of Christ.

Who is it? who am I so afraid of?
Skeptical Spouse? Someone in the room now? Supervisor? Co-worker?

D. Pray for that person; continuously.